It was the first time that the Ijtema prayer was conducted in Bangla Focus BanglaOn Wednesday, hundreds of members of the Bangladesh chapter of Islamic movement Tabligh Jamaat and some Qawmi madrasa alems [clerics] staged a demonstration near Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, protesting the arrival of Maulana Saad.
After a two-hour long meeting with a Tabligh Jamaat faction which has been at odds over the controversial preacher’s presence in Bangladesh for Ijtema, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal informed reporters that both sides agreed that the preacher would stay at Kakrail Mosque during the Ijtema.
Earlier, some of the protesters told the Dhaka Tribune that Tabligh Jamaat members in India and Bangladesh had been opposing the visit of Maulana Saad, as Darul Uloom Deoband, the movement’s central seminary, has been maintaining a state of non-cooperation with the preacher known for making controversial statements that caused uproar in India on several occasions.Also Read - 1st phase of Biswa Ijtema begins without controversial Indian preacher
Earlier on Friday, the Ijtema formally began with “ambayan” (general sermon) after Fazr prayers at dawn amid tight security. Noted ulema-mashaekhs in their sermons called for following the guidance of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. The sermons were translated into different languages of the world. The second phase of the Ijtema is scheduled to begin on January 19 at the same venue and it will end on January 21. Tablig Jamaat has been organizing the Biswa Ijtema on the bank of Turag river since 1967. Now, Ijtema is being held in two phases since 2011 to ease the accommodation problem.
